Jeffrey Epstein, one of the world’s most reclusive investors, appears to have gotten his ultra-rich clientele tangled up in one of the now infamous Bear Stearns hedge funds, Securities and Exchange Commission documents show.

Known for hobnobbing with everyone from Bill Clinton to leading scientists and mathematicians, Epstein’s Virgin Islands-based Financial Trust Co. is listed as a beneficial owner of 10 percent of the equity of the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund.

The SEC documents are not clear on the financial exposure that Epstein and his clients have to the Bear fund. Epstein is said to have fewer than two dozen clients, each of whom is worth at least $1 billion.

The Bear fund set off a near-market collapse in the bond market – especially the mortgage-backed securities market – when it reported it was down 23 percent in April and was suspending efforts to pay back investors who wanted their money out of the fund. At its high-water mark, the fund had slightly more than $650 million in assets.

While the fund’s recent performance figures have not been released, many rivals assume that the fund’s capital might have been completely wiped out, given margin calls and collateral seizures.

Businessweek.com first reported news of Epstein’s investment in the Bear fund.

The normally press-shy Epstein shot into the limelight last year when Palm Beach, Fla., police filed an affidavit describing numerous sexual episodes between Epstein and several underage teenage masseuses at his mansion. His lawyers have denied the charges.